Hello and welcome to my little corner of cyberspace. Here you can find a foodie fantasy filled side-car to my YouTube channel which is filled with scrumptious vegan recipes that are straightforward and common-sense-ful to make, as well as incredibly scrumptious to eat. Read more.

So here's the thing. I really do not enjoy valentines day. When I was at school there was this tacky serenade thing, that was nothing other than intense and uncomfortable for many people involved, while the expectation for it to AMAZING, made individuals (like myself) feel a bit bummed by the end of the day. Plus don't even get me started on the commercial side of things. Heart shaped this, overly expensive that and red everything is just ridiculous and makes the whole thing rather frustrating. Anyway, I do think that using is as a day to make or do something for those you love is a very nice thing indeed and this cupcake recipe (great segue Phoebe) is a perfect way to do that. These are so Chai-licious, light and creamy whilst being oil free and naturally sweetened you'll be confused for SURE! But enjoying these mostly too. I am pretty proud of this recipe. After four attempts they are as good as gold and were scoffed off within 6 hours of making them...oh yeah! Plus they are beyond quick to make I promise. No fancy ingredients or equipment, but a bowl and a whisk. You got this!

Ingredients

1 cup plant mylk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cacao powder

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

3 chai tea bags

1/2 cup boiling water

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 apple puree

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cloves

1/4 tsp cardamon

1/2 cup tofutti cream cheese (found at Whoolworths if in Australia)

1/2 cup nuttelex/earth balance

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Method

Preheat your oven to 190C. Mix the plant mylk and vinegar together in a small bowl and set aside. Brew your tea bags in the boiling water and also set aside.

Sift the flour, cacao, sugar, raising agents and salt into a large bowl and stir to combine.

To the faux buttermilk, add the brewed tea (sans teabags of course), vanilla, apple puree, syrup and spices. Whist until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until combined. Place approximately 1/2 cup of mixture into a 12 space cupcake tray lined with patty papers. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until risen.

Meanwhile prepare the icing. To do this combine the cream cheese, butter syrup and vanilla in a bowl with an electric beater until fluffy and combined. Refrigerate until needed.

Once the cupcakes are room temperature, prepare to ice these babies by making an icing bag out of a zip lock bag. Simply snip off the zip with some sizzors and load in the icing. Get it all down near a corner and make a small snip to create a 1/2 cm opening. Now pipe on the icing.